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January 2022 started off with a bang as my hunting buddies and I made our way to North to hunt Carboniferous fossils. It was an overcast chilly day but that didn't deter us. I came across this Trilobutt and just see the rear end (near my thumb) because my eyesight isn't what it used to be. When I get home and get a closer look I see what appears to be a part of the head. Not knowing much about Trilobites I posted it on a Facebook group page for some identification. It was pointed out that it is indeed part of the head and other pieces scattered about the hash plate if you look closely. The thing about ocean floors during that time period all that debris swishing around during heavy currents can dis articulate anything that is fragile including a Trilobite molt or quite possible a dead one? Such a cool specimen to add to my collection! I ran out of stones to split, so I started to look around the shoreline and had heard from others that Colonial Coral was near where I was situated. I see this huge stone with recognizable hexagonal shapes but it was too big to even try dig it up and carry out, so a picture will have to do. My goal is find several small pieces and eventually I get lucky and find two to take home. Below I find this piece, most of it covered in mud so it was hard to see detail or anything about it but knew it was a piece of Colonial Coral? When I got it home and washed all the grime off the stone I was astonished to see all those hexagonal patterns make up the Colonial Coral that was covered in mud. After the colonial coral there were no other fossils to find at this spot other than this living fossil, a Decopod crawling around on 300 million year old fossil stones. I've never seen one this colorful! We decided to go to another site and when we arrive there were a lot of rocks but found one but nothing else spectacular other than this Archimedes with Fenestella wrapped around the spine... giving an image of what the Archimedes really looked like together. Mostly Fenestella is found covering a hash plate with out the screw and the screws are usually found apart from the Fenestella by themselves or on a hash plate We made it to the last spot of the day, the sun made it's appearance and started warming up the air around us so we had to shed layers! I found myself amongst a patch of rocks and sat down and scanned the ground finding crinoid stems, Archimedes screws (not pictured), Horn Coral (pic#1), Brachiopod steinkerns (pic#2&4), and Blastoids. Blastoids (pic#2) are my favorite of the two and just love finding them and it's safe to say that most fossil collectors love finding them too! Last but not least I found a straight shelled Cephlopod, wishing I could add this one to my collection! The impression was on a huge slab and when I tried to extract it, it was already fragile and broke into four pieces. In cases like this, a picture will have to do for this nice specimen because nature will eventually reclaim it. What a great January day to hunt Carboniferous, one of my favorite time periods! It was a perfect day with all the finds and hanging with your buddies, look forward to getting back there soon!

Hey y’all, it’s been awhile, hope y’all have been safe!! I found this in my driveway while looking at all the cool rocks that have been flooded to the surface in the past year. I’m 1/10 of mile to the water of Elk River at the Eastern most point of Lauderdale County North Alabama and Limestone Co. Our town boundaries are all water ways except north which ends at Giles Co, Tennessee. So it’s not hard to be close to the waterways, Elk River, and the banks. and that’s where all of the house on my road get there driveways lol (don’t tell TVA). My ruler is hiding but I have a 3x6 envelope and it’s about 3 in wide, 2 in high and 2 in deep. It looks like a sponge fossil puffball but those lines all connect beautifully with no stragglers. The light/ bright yellow lines are raised so it looks embossed, but it’s natural and the fissure does have small crystals present.

Oh how I miss going to the library! Alas, that’s another story. So.... is there ANY difference between chert and flint? Is it really just geologist versus historian? I have some beautiful blue pieces, but I also have some that are the milky kinda waxy white color, and a few brown with small green places. I just don’t want to label anything wrong. Thank y’all for the help!

I found this around 2 years ago in a creek in North Alabama. I'm pretty sure it's a partial trilobite but I'm not sure.

I found this embedded in limestone at about 1100 feet above sea level on a small mountain near Huntsville AL. I need help identifying it.